January 2014 (thread 8) Half way there just about! Finding out pink or blue

[BuntCadger]

New thread for us, can't believe another one filled! Half way there girls :) on the homeward stretch :) xx

tooth loving the shopping news! It is taking us much longer than I expected to sort out the spare room so no furniture shopping for us for a little while....its frustratingly slow work.... who was it who said they were impatient and wanted baby day now?

If I remember correctly, you can keep breast milk in the fridge for up to 24 hours!

Sultana I think you're me

toothfairy I used to keep breastmilk in the fridge, normally for only about 2 days but I think you can keep it refrigerated for longer than that? feel free to correct me anyone. you can also freeze it, I never did this but I know my friend did.You can freeze it for upto 6 months I think.double check on that though as im no expert even though I have two already, hangs head in shame

extra!

sarah if you are anything like my mate, she has a little one at home and another on the way and says she has forgotten everything and its like starting again!

Well peace reigns once more in the Sultana house. DH made the first move to smooth things over this time which was unusual - probably because I am preggers! At least I can go to bed now calm, albeit puffy eyed!

Plus I washed the bed sheets today and I just love getting into fresh bedding! Ah bliss!

Just got home to find a letter asking me to ring my GP and book an appointment 'at my convince' with regards to my last urine test. I doubt they'll be open tomorrow so I'll be worrying for a few days! I know it's probably nothing serious (although if DH tells me not to worry or I'll get stressed once more I will hit him) but really, how hard would if have been to add a quick line saying 'don't worry, you're not dying and baby is fine'?!

sultana I'm glad you've got a peaceful house back!

sultana im so glad im not the only one who has forgot everything

mrsgsr if it was anything serious then the doctors would have rang you, I know this probably doesn't help, but they wouldn't of wrote to you when they know it can take a while for you to receive the letter so try not to worry yourself too much.

Thank you sarah, I keep trying to tell myself that but I'm a natural worrier!

I think it's 3-5 days for bmilk in the fridge but I tended to freeze unless I was going to use that day because I was desperate not to waste it. Keep in the back of the fridge rather than the door as its colder.

Although dd was a bit of a bottle refuser so I only pumped for a few weeks before giving up on the whole expressing front. She wasn't a big evening feeder once she was a couple of months old so I would just go out between feeds.

I'm trying to put together a few activity boxes for dd to open whilst I feed new baby to keep her occupied. Anyone know what two year olds are into? My only idea so far has been sticker books. Also making sure our sky plus box is full of her favourites. Fortunately because my induction date will be roughly New Year's Eve, dh should have about a month off in total with holiday and paternity leave so that will help.

mrsg it's probably nothing as "at your convenience" doesn't sound too urgent.

So you can freeze breast milk, does it take long to defrost? Then when it's defrosted do you warm it up?

I always thought it was 24 hrs for expressed milk. But guidelines might have changed in 12 years

I have had contact with curly, and she said she wanted me to update you all but didn't want to come back to the thread yet.
She had the amnio, and it went fine. Had a reassurance scan last week and all fine. She's had some reassuring preliminary results but has another couple of weeks to wait for the full set.
She's very worried about mc, poor thing, but has her 20 week scan this week to look forward to :)
She'll be back when she has all her results. I told her she's been missed and she wants to thank everyone for thinking of her.

mrsG fx that it's nothing too ominous - as tarka said, if they were seriously worried, it wouldn't be 'at your convenience'.

extra I thought that about Kiddicare Croydon, but it was actually quite nice, not busy (on a Sat), loads of lovely sales people, and the cafe is fab, we had a really nice lunch there. Give it a whirl!

Tonight DH and I watched 'Cool Hand Luke'. It is SUCH A BOY FILM. I feel like I need to watch Dirty Dancing to restore balance. God, seriously, NOTHING happened. DH is now reading reviews of it to 'convince' me that I am wrong in thinking it was dull...

This is going to be like the fight we had over the 'Birth of Venus' painting in Florence. The one I called 'the lady with the seashell, and her vag out', which I said I wouldn't give houseroom to. Apparently it's like the most important painting of its time or somesuch . Still wouldn't have it in the lav.

extra I also went to croydon one as live 5 mins away and actually really good as its new store. Right next to huge mamas and papas and tk max too so full on baby shopping!

toby that's good to hear about curly as was getting quite worried, must be awful just waiting

as everyone else had said mrsg it doesn't sound like anything serious but I'd be the same as you... Why would they send that letter out over bh, very annoying

Not sure how much you all believe in this but apparently full moon can bring on labour (only when your due I'm sure!!) due to the gravatiional pull on your waters like it moves the sea.

January full moon is on 16th. I'm not due until 22nd and as its first I'm expecting it to be late but feb one isn't until 15th so not sure it'll apply to me but anyone else due around 16th or just before it might do :)

Thats good that curly is doing ok so far. Hope all the rest of the tests go well.

Omg breast pumps!! I am hoping to breastfeed, but know dh would like to get involved so not sure when a pump would be required and when to start. There seems to be lots of info on breastfeeding and lots on formula feeding and lots on bottled breast feeding, but struggling to find much helpful detailed info on combining breastfeeding with bottled breast milk. Do you wait a few weeks before introducing a bottle before bed so dh can have a go and bond, or does baby then get used to the bottle and not want the breast. It all seems so confusing.

My sister used to put hers in little breast milk bags in a box in the fridge dated and ready to go. She also had some in the freezer as nephew didnt take to breast feeding (prob because he was in the nicu for about 2 weeks and then she had a horrid midwife who was not helfpul at all)

I was a little annoyed at dh after the vom incident but then just found it funny as it seemed to get everywhere. Am also starting to suspect that it was possibly the food we ate at the wedding and not him drinking loads because i had awful diarrhea yesterday and so think either i didnt wash up well enough after cleaning up his vom or i ate something dodgy (am uber cautious washing my hands after cleaning up etc so guessing it could be the food)
My mum told me i looked v pale in the morning, but i felt ok just tired from hardly any sleep worrying about dh. Then straight after finishing lunch....uhoh. Missed the summer pudding dessert and everything. Gutted as it was a family meal with my sister and her lot too and i only normally see the folks every 2 months or so and see my sis every 3-6 months. Then spent 2 hours in bed alseep as i was exhausted and couldnt keep my eyes open and then we had the 3 hour drive home. Thankfully all is seeming ok today so will be off to check out the asda baby event.

Oh blimey Frizz! Yes, it could have been dodgy food or a combination of the two? Mind you, stress and worry bring on the shits with me, so that could also account for your upset tum....?

From what I have read and researched so far - you should wait at least 6 weeks before introducing a bottle as otherwise it can apparently cock up the breast feeding. However, you shouldn't wait too long as otherwise they may not take to the bottle. Soooo, it looks as though the general consensus (from the things I have read so far) is a window of opportunity around 6-8 weeks to start adding in a bottle....I suspect there is some leeway in this as every baby is different, but I guess if you want to give yourself the best chance.... I am sure we will learn more at antenatal classes - that will definitely be one of my questions for them if they don't bring it up themselves....

Great to hear about curly poor lass! It's just horrible waiting and she has been so brave!

Tarka I wish I could help you with your 2 yr old.... Sounds as though you have some good ideas already! What about also making one box into a sort of pass the parcel, so you put sticker book in the main box and then wrap it in lots of layers of paper and between each layer you put a couple of stickers for the book?

MrsG as others have said, don't panic Mr Manwaring! However it's always the way that you end up having to wait over a bank holiday isn't it and you are bound to be wondering what the hell it's all about! Grrrrr! As you say, would be nice to have a bit of reassurance in the letter, but it can't be anything to worry about as they could have called you otherwise....

Humpty your post cracked me up! You definitely need to restore the balance! When we were speaking again last night, DH put "the long kiss goodnight" on as it was on TV and told me it was an action film rather than anything freaky. Well I managed to make it through the first half before going to bed, but the first 10 mins were NOT my type of film at all and I began to think "is he still mad at me and trying to punish me?". Horrible car crash followed by her breaking the neck of a deer who had been hit by the car. Just my sort of thing! NOT!!!! I too felt the need to watch something like "friends" to get the images out of my head! Surprised I slept so well last night all things considered!

Re expressing -- when I had DS, I expressed almost immediately. Then my supply got all buggered up, I got mastitis twice and at 3 months was in hospital overnight having an abscess removed from my boob under GA. I had to stop BFing then :(

When I had DD, I didn't express for a couple of months because I was terrified of doing the same again. By that point, she point blank refused a bottle at all. Ditto a cup or a spoon or a dummy. I couldn't leave her for most of the first year because breastmilk was all she would eat.

This time I'm hoping for a happy medium!

Hope you're better today, Frizz

Re when to start a bottle, I volunteer at a bfeeding group (mainly making tea tbh) and from the stories there I know of babies who have had a bottle a day from birth then started refusing the bottle at a few months and babies who moved easily from breast to bottle at 6 months so its not all about age of introduction.

The official advice in our peer supporter training was wait until 6-8 weeks but I think if it was really important for me that baby would take a bottle I would start more 4-6 weeks.

Toby how awful! You really just can't predict these things can you? Fingers firmly crossed it's 3rd time lucky for you!

Tarka thanks for the insider info. Very useful!!!

4-6 weeks would certainly tally with my experience as probably a good time to start, but that's obviously just anecdotal.

If my bloody lazy children ever get up, we're going to trawl garages begging them to find us something we can fit in. So that'll be fun

Good luck Toby! Hope you find something!

Thanks all, the letter doesn't sound at all urgent and I know they have my mobile number, it just wasn't what I wanted to come home to!

Glad curly is doing ok, fx she gets all the other results soon and everything is fine :)

frizz sorry to hear you were ill, I hope you've recovered enough to enjoy the baby event :)